In a refrigerator main body, there is provided a storage space which is divided into a refrigerating chamber and a freezing chamber. The storage space is generally mounted with a plurality of storage receptacles for efficiently storing food.
FIG. 16 is a perspective view showing an interior of a refrigerator according to a prior art mounted with such storage receptacles.
As shown in the figure, a storage space in which food is accommodated is provided in a refrigerator main body 10. The storage space of the main body 10 is divided into left and right sides and thus includes a freezing chamber 11 and a refrigerating chamber 13. In addition, the main body 10 is provided with a freezing chamber door 11A and a refrigerating chamber door 13A for selectively opening and closing the freezing chamber 11 and the refrigerating chamber 13, respectively. The freezing and refrigerating chamber doors 11A and 13A are respectively installed on sides of the main body 10 so that the chamber doors pivot on their proximal ends for their distal ends to move back and forth of the main body 10.
In the meantime, on the rear of the freezing and refrigerating chamber doors 11A and 13A, there are provided a plurality of door baskets 15. The door baskets 15 are to accommodate food. The door baskets 15 are provided on the rear of the freezing and refrigerating chamber doors 11A and 13A to be vertically spaced apart from each other by predetermined intervals.
In addition, a plurality of shelves 17 are installed in the freezing and refrigerating chambers 11 and 13. The shelves 17 are detachably installed in the freezing and refrigerating chambers 11 and 13 and thus serve to divide the freezing and refrigerating chambers 11 and 13 into upper and lower parts, respectively. Food is seated on upper surfaces of the shelves 17.
In addition, a plurality of vegetable boxes 19 are withdrawably installed in a lower portion of the refrigerating chamber 13. An accommodation space for receiving food such as vegetable or fruit is provided in each vegetable box 19. The accommodation space of the vegetable box 19, which has an upper face generally opened, is covered with a bottom of another vegetable box positioned directly thereabove or a bottom of any one of the shelves 17.
Next, a process in which cool air circulates in the refrigerator, i.e., the freezing and refrigerating chambers will be described.
First, the cool air is generated by heat exchange with coolant flowing through an evaporator (not shown), which is provided in the main body 10 corresponding to the rear of the freezing chamber 11. The cool air is supplied to the freezing and refrigerating chambers 11 and 13 through cool air supply ports (not shown) respectively provided in upper portions of the freezing and refrigerating chambers 11 and 13.
In the meantime, the cool air supplied into the freezing and refrigerating chambers 11 and 13 circulates in the freezing and refrigerating chambers 11 and 13, thereby freezing or refrigerating the food accommodated therein. Further, the cool air freezing or refrigerating the food accommodated in the freezing and refrigerating chambers 11 and 13 flows toward the evaporator through cool air return ports (not shown) provided in lower portions of the freezing and refrigerating chambers 11 and 13, so that the circulation of cool air is performed in the refrigerator.
However, the refrigerator according to the above prior art has the following problems.
As described above, the accommodation space of the vegetable box 19 is covered with a bottom of another vegetable box positioned directly thereabove or a bottom of any one of the shelves 17, but is not completely made airtight thereby. Thus, since the cool air circulating in the refrigerating chamber 13 is delivered into the accommodation spaces of the vegetable boxes 19 and brought into contact with the food such as vegetable or fruit accommodated therein, there is concern that smell of other food stored in the refrigerating chamber 13 permeates into the food accommodated in the accommodation spaces of the vegetable boxes 19 or moisture in the food is evaporated and becomes dry.
In addition, as described above, the cool air circulating in the refrigerating chamber 13 is supplied through the cool air supply port provided in the upper portion of the refrigerating chamber 13 and then is returned through the cool air return port provided in the lower portion of the refrigerating chamber 13. However, since the vegetable box 19 is installed to the lower portion of the refrigerating chamber 13, the cool air delivered to the accommodation space of the vegetable box 19 refrigerates the food while circulating in the refrigerating chamber 13, thus has a relatively increased temperature. In the meantime, when an amount of the food stored in the refrigerating chamber 13 is a little, the cool air of low temperature flows downward in the refrigerating chamber 13 and is delivered into the accommodation spaces of the vegetable boxes 19. Thus, there is concern that the food accommodated in the accommodation spaces of the vegetable boxes 19 is weakly or excessively cooled.